Sanitary door mat



y 1942- v. NELSON 2,282,672

' SANITARY DOOR MAT Filed Ma 14, 1941 Inventor Var/7 (M /d0);

By fi Attorney Patented May 12, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESANITARY DOOR MAT Vern Nelson, Bellingham, Wash. Application May 14,1941, Serial No. 393,462

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in door mats, and particularly to adoor mat adapted to mechanically clean and chemically sanitize the shoesof persons about to enter an establishment maintained under sanitaryconditions, and the primary object of my invention is to provide asimple, practical and efficient arrangement of this character.

Other important objects and advantages of my invention will be apparentfrom a reading of the following description taken in connection with theappended drawing, wherein for purposes of illustration I have shown apreferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a general top plan view of the embodiment.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken through Figure1 along the line 22.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken through Figure 1along the line 3-3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 5 generally designatesthe preferred embodiment of my sanitary door mat which comprisespreferably, although not necessarily, a generally elongated rectangularmetal or other suitable material liquid containing tank 6 consisting ofthe bottom I, the opposite side walls 8 and 9, and the end walls [0 andI I, the latter being surmounted by and continuous with an abbreviatedmarginal top [2 which defines by its inner edge in this case arectangular opening l3.

Filling the opening 13 and resting on the bottom 1 and rising above thetop I2 is a pad Id of fibrous absorbent material of sufficient roughnessand resistivity to adequately mechanically clean the soles of shoespassed in contact therewith, whereby the present device actsmechanically as an ordinary door mat. The material of the pad I4 is alsosufiiciently absorbent and sufficiently resistive with respect to aliquid germicide [5 which is contained in the container 6 suflicient involume to keep the pad M in a moist and chemically effective conditionto apply the germicide to the soles of the shoes at the same time thatthe mechanical cleaning of the soles of the shoes takes place, wherebythe said soles are germ free and sanitary so as to prevent contaminationof the establishment into which the wearer of the shoes passes afterutilizing the mat 5. A filling opening I6 is provided in the abbreviatedtop l2 to permit easy replenishment of the germicide l 5 in the tank 6.

Although I have shown and described herein a preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is to be definitely understood that I do not wish to limitthe application of the invention thereto except as may be required bythe scope of the subjoined claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In a device of the class described, a shallow tank for containinggermicidal liquid and having an inturned narrow marginal flangeextending around the top thereof and defining an opening in the top ofthe tank, and. a mat of fibrous absol-bent material fitted in saidopening and resting fiat on the bottom of the tank, said mat beingthicker than the depth of said tank to project upwardly out of saidopening.

VERN NELSON.

